Itās a great that I have a good sense of smell. Thanks to that I couldnāt get a wink at all. Fortunately, I donāt feel too sleepy which is something to rejoice about.
I guess itās only natural that I donāt mind skipping sleep for a couple of days after having slept for around 200 years, but Iām not sure if this is normal or not, so I need to be careful from now on.
Well, itās another beautiful day, and I decided to go upstream because of the smell and immediately, encountered a monster. Even if the riverbank is an easy terrain without obstruction the encounter rate is a bit high, considering I found one in 15 minutes. A big reddish crocodile clearly larger than me, is right in front of me. This is something that I would avoid under water, unfortunately for it weāre on dry land. Thereās a river right there, but itās a little narrow for a huge creature like this to live in so I donāt think that this where it lives. If I continue moving upstream, would I find a river large enough for this gian to live in?
The crocodile Opened its mouth and showed its sharp teeth, as if trying to intimidate me without breaking itās gaze.
(Should I ignore itā¦ or should I fight it?)
Itās crazy to take on such a huge crocodile, whose length is about 6 meters long including the tail, without any weapon.
Iām not sure what to do.
After pondering for a while, I decided to fight it. However, Iāll make this clear, If itās impossible to beat this guy, Iāll immediately withdraw.
I know how strong this body is, but Iām not sure how far can I go with this body. So, Iāll use this to test it out
(Are ā¦ are, Whatās this? I felt like Iāve seen this somewhere but I canāt seem to remember.)
[Well, Whatever!]
Slamming my fist that is protected by a hard, shell-like skin together, made a sound thatās akin that to colliding rocks.
[Guaaaaaaaaa!]
The giant crocodile roar as it sensed that my atmosphere changed. Itās first move was to rush to me. Itās not very fast though, swinging its body side to side as it comes with all itās might.
Itās fast, but not as fast as I expected. It opened it mouth while it turn to face me as if heās about to bite me. I jump at him and send a right hook as a counter. I hit it with the counter right hook on itās lower jaw.
I feel good with that blow.
However, I didnāt expect for the crocodile to lose itās lower jaw. It seems that my blow was too powerful and instead of smashing it. I smashed through and took the meat and bones along with it. The scattered pieces of flesh fell into the river and the fishes started to swarm. On the other hand, the crocodile with its lower jaw blown off, started to quickly as possible, scamper away with its tail wrapped around it.
Wondering if itās alright to leave it alone and let it bleed all over the place, I decided to finish it and narrowed the distance. The crocodile Immediately snapped itās tail like a whip and hit me on my sideā¦ I staggered a little but I wasnāt hurt.
Seems like thereās just too much difference in terms of power.
With the crocodile completely terrified, I had to make a choice. Do I let it leave or kill it ā the answer was already decided since the start. Even if I let it go Itās not going to survive and die soon. Then at least I should make it quick and make it as painless as possible.
I chase after the crocodile that escaped and leaped to shortened the distance at a stretch, slamming its heads at the same time as I was about to land. It convulses for a while and then stopped moving.
(Is it really this easy to hunt?)
Once again, Iām impress with my physical abilities, but thereās one problem. How should to prepare this meat?
[How should I cook this crocodile meat?]
The only option was to roast it over fire, thatās probably the only way possible. Itāll take a lot of courage to it this one raw. And, itās not the same as drinking water.
So I dragged the crocodile by itās tail and drag it back to base, took a match from my luggage and set fire to the once abode of the now deceased goblins. Since the crocodile was so big, it was very difficult to roast. I took my first bite on the open-pit roasted crocodile meat skewer. The meat just tastes roasted. I guess it canāt be helped that it tastes nothing, just to be clear, it tastes unpleasant.
Itās fine until I realized that I was eating meat that wasnāt bled properly, sadly the crocodile is already in pieces.
(Iāve screwed upā¦)
I thought to myself and went to the river to wash myself and remove the blood on my body.
(This taste so bad, what should I do with this?..)
I ponder while my hands are on my chin, staring on the crackling, burning shabby house. Iām not sure what to do with it.
(Should I just throw this out?)
After some hesitation, I decided to discard the crocodile meat.
I wondered if do I even need to have three meals a day in the first place. I feel like āI could just eat random thing when Iām hungryā but itās kind of risky especially that I donāt know much about my body.
(Iāll try it when I can afford it. Thatās all I need to know.)
Iāve figured out where the water is, and Iāve got good idea about what can I do with food. If I am to talk about the future, I would like to prioritizing on obtaining ignition supply, but I canāt do anything about it. For now, I can only hope to be lucky and find some in the city ruins.
So, the second day was spent up exploring. This place would be my temporary base until I can find a place with better condition, So I leave my luggage and set off. Itās best that we go north as planned. I observe my surrounding while I walk to look for something that will serve as a land mark. The erosion of nature seems to be faster than I initially thought, and all traces of the former Empire are all gone, even the buildings were gone. I canāt barely see any traces of asphalt pavement, most of it are already pulverized so finely that itās difficult to distinguish it from ordinary stones.
It might have been ravaged by war, but its too strange that all that was left too little. There should have been buildings far taller that the trees that are twice my height, but itās strange that I canāt find any of them now. I wonder, what kind of war had been fought, this makes me more curious and interested in the final days of the Empire.
I already believed that the Empire had already fallen. Iām just not sure what would I have done if the empire still exists. After a bit of a walk, I concluded that it would be easier and convenient if the Empire didnāt exist in this era but itās kind of lonely as well.
I wonder, if my family left some descendants.
Itās fine to continue up north to where we can see the river, but thereās one problem. There are two major rivers that flows from the Kingdom of Canaan down to Fleuretus Empire in the south.
One is the Hena River in the west and one is the Resonant River that lies along the eastern border. The problem is that the Resonant River is near the border of the Kingdom of Seizelia.
And, Seizelia is a āMagical Nationā. Magical nation tends to hate science. And to be honest, I donāt think that I can get along with that place.
When I was still a human, that nation relied heavily on magic that so much land of theirs weāre left undeveloped, leaving more than laf of their territory to rot away. As a result, large amount of monster spread, and mercenary who refused to use modern weapon, flourished and the country became a haven for monster hunters called āExterminatorsā that are everywhere.
(Itās not like I could get along with then now, is it?)
Iām a bonafide monster.
It would be strange if nothing happens to me if I stroll around like this there.
I donāt want to be hunted, but my opponents would be humans, I want to avoid killing because I used to be human, but I can already foresee where if I donāt kill a human, theyāll organize a party and it might end badly.
Even though I was a recruit, I was a still a soldier so I know how to do things at some extent, so even if I donāt provoke them. They would still think of you as a threat. If Iām going to get involve, please not let it be Seizelia, I donāt want to be a āhunter targetā.
On the other hands, I would rather go to the Western country ā The Elf Nation. Itās a country where nature is worship and there are idiots that believed that āmonsters are part of natureā and getās taken into a goblinās nest when they tried to practice it.
Thereās a possibility that they would accept me.
Incidentally, the idiot who got taken into the goblinās nest said [Thatās the way our culture is!]. He was so hardcore that he wouldnāt change his mind.
This is why erotic books of [Elf x Goblin] are endless. Thatās why the answer to the question [Why was there too many stuffs about elf x Interspecies intercourse?] is because of these idiots doing idiotic things, I said laughing remembering a certain senator protesting against the Empire while holding a porn magazine in hand.
The I remembered.
No. I remembered it!
(My collectionā¦ Itās definitely been found by my family!)
I feel like covering my face and roll around, but doing that with my current body would bring minor destruction to the forest. Lying around, hiding my face, writhing in shame, my calm thought just suddenly came back.
(Ah ā , this feeling)
It was the same strange cool-down feeling I had when I suppressed my fears in the underground facility. It seems that this time, it suppressed my feeling of shame, allowing me to regain my composure quickly. Itās no brainer that if I have a sense of shame, this would hinder me to fight in my fullest ability.
[No way in hell! Idiot] I retorted.
Itās right to assume that the function works as a break against various situation. For example āANGERā ā What would happen if I woke up in an existing Empire and found myself in this state?
The answer is obvious.
How much damage would a monster with an ability like mine would deal if it went to an emotional rampage? I think itās safe to say that this function is designed to prevent that from happening.
I called it āEmotional Suppression Functionā and wrote it down my mental notes of abilities.
By the way, itās not that I donāt like the way I look now, nor do I have any aversion to it. Iāve always been a big fan of horror games, and my appearance is neither grotesque, and the performance is topnotch. Is it because Iāve been playing too many games that Iām currently not that dissatisfied with my appearance? Or is it because I havenāt found a human yet? Or Is it because I was conditioned that way?
Somewhere in everyoneās heart we all want a reality that is same with the movies.
This is a quote from a genius film directorā¦ I donāt disagree on it; in fact I agree with it but if it weāre to happen I would like to choose the movie. I donāt want it to be horror nor it to be a monster movie. I want it to be a hero movie. Iāve fantasized about things I can do with this body, but itās on all the premise that I can build a friendly relationship with the humans.
Iād like to see if thereās someone who wants to get along with such a monster by looking at themselves objectively.
Anyway, thereās no negative effects in using this body, and for now, all I can do is train so that I can make full use of this bodyās capability. Just running is a training, so for now letās get moving and collect some information.
I continued up to the river, jumping around and I were able to reach the mainstream. But here I encountered another monster. A huge reddish-brown crocodile, which was clearly larger that the last one, probably because we reached the larger part of the river.
[You again?]
But the crocodile seems to have thought that I was a prey rush towards me. Thereās no way that this would be a battle. So I kicked it aside and ignored it, continuing further upstream.
Itās already past midday, which would have been lunchtime when I was still human, but still I donāt feel hungry. As I continued on, I saw what looked like a man-made object in my line of sight.
I paused briefly and walks toward it, but I still couldnāt believe my eyes for a moment when I saw it through the trees.
(Is that a tank? Is this place a former military base?)
If that structure in front of me is a remnant of what used to be a military base, I would be in a bit of trouble. After all, the base is located on the west side of the river which would mean it should be on the east side from the Empireās perspective. Geographically speaking, the most likely target of the base would be the kingdom of Seizelia, and the river would be the Resonant River. Additionally, just east of Resonant River would be the border which were skirmishes against Seizelia frequently occurred.
Humansā¦Iām starting to feel like Iāve been flagged for an encountered with a hunter.